Chapter 8

Hello! We are back to Clary's POV, but if you want Jace's or whoever's let me know!

I blinked and pinched the bridge of my nose. This isn't happening, this isn't happening.
"Hi, honey..." She gave me a warm smile which a returned, but mine was more...forced. A mix of emotions flashed before my eyes. I saw sadness, happiness, betrayal, but oddly enough confusion stuck out the most. "Why are you here Jocelyn?" I tried so hard to keep the venom out of my voice, but based on her expression I could tell I was doing a pretty poor job. Her face noticeable dropped about ten feet.

"I thought you would be happy to see my honey." My jaw dropped. "Cut the bullshit Jocelyn." I replied through gritted teeth.

She rose to her feet, anger boldly written on her face. "You will NOT swear Claris-"

I sat up, my anger covering up the constant pain in my stomach. "Go to hell!" She looked taken aback, as if her daughter could ever talk to her that way. My face was now officially boiling hot. I looked directly into her eyes, and with effort, I once again tried to keep the venom out of my voice, "You think you have the right to tell me what to do 'mom' after the way you treated me? You left all alone, might I remind you, with only a note! You disappeared without a trace and now you think you should be the one who is angry, like you are the one that was hurt. Did you honestly think this through, because it sure as hell didn't sound like you didn't?" Her jaw was on the floor and her eyes were as wide as saucers.

She stared at me for a few tension filled minutes. My eyes were wandering around the room. I couldn't believe her. Who does she think she is?

I didn't even care what she thought anymore, I've been through enough this week, stress will NOT help. I closed my eyes and let my mind relax. I slowly felt my anger subside, to leave only hurt.

I glanced up to see her gazing desperately at me. My jaw clenched, "So, I haven't seen you in over a year. Tell me, how you have been, Jocelyn?" My irritation must have been apparent in my voice, because the desperation in her eyes only grew. She didn't respond, just watched me, her eyes pleading for forgiveness. I looked away. I couldn't handle it, even if I was pissed at her, she's still my mom. I heard a creak of the tile, of the hospital floor and snapped my head toward the noise. I saw Jocelyn walking towards me. Her arms open wide, but as soon as they touched me, I instantly flinched back. "Honey, I'm so sorry. I never meant to…" She trailed off, trying to grope for the right words.

I turned so I wasn't facing her and closed my eyes. After taking a deep breath I told her, "Just leave. I need time to think about all of this. Please, just go." My voice sounded strained, not a trace of anger remained.

I could feel her sad gaze on the back of my head. I slowly spun my head around so I faced her. She hasn't moved an inch. I simply shook my head and she cautiously made her way to the door.

She turned to face me and opened her mouth, but as soon as she saw my expression and clamped her mouth shut. I held her gaze, which contained disappointment, hurt, confusion, and a touch of regret. She disappeared down the hall and her footsteps became softer, and softer, until I couldn't hear anything.

It wasn't until now that the realization of searing pain, punched me straight in the stomach. I tensed up and slowly found my way to a laying position, trying not to injure myself anymore.

The pain only became more and more intense. A scream found its way up my throat and out of my system. The noise filled the clean, white room and rush of nurses and doctors filled the emptiness. In the group of lab coats, I spotted one that had Mr. Lightwoods face attached to it. He started to come through the crowd and once he saw me desperately clutching my stomach, realization set in his face.

He rushed over to me, while ordering others to do this and that. A nurse came over and held my hand while whispering words of encouragement.

Black dots filled my vision and I could feel myself slipping into unconsciousness. Someone stuck something in my arm, and the pain started to fade away. Relief rushed through me and it dawned on me that I was panicking. "It's okay now sweetie, it's over. Your body went into shock because you started panicking about the pain." She stroked my hair and I leaned into her touch, thankful that it was over. "You just need to calm down."

I nodded, too breathless to even speak. My vision started clearing up and with a sigh of relief I glanced around the room. Mr. Lightwood was watching me with his relief, flushed face. I gave him a reassuring smile, and he nodded, while stalking out of the room. I turned back to the nurse, "What happened?" She hesitated before responding, "Well you know how one of your symptoms is pain in your stomach?" I nodded, and now I was the one receiving the reassuring smile. "This pain seemed a lot worse than last time right?" She didn't wait for a response, just continued. "We discovered that your disease is obviously causing this, but we don't know if it will increasingly get worse, or better. We can't even predict when it will happen!" She let out an exasperated sigh and looked at me, I mean really looked at me.

This gave me a chance to look at her, without all that awkwardness. She was pretty, really pretty. She had curves to die for, and had curly, brown hair with golden strand woven in. Her eyes were amber and had a certain sparkle to them. They suddenly lit up, as if remembering something. "Oh, and my name is Maia by the way."

"I'm Clary, but I'm pretty sure you already knew that." She laughed at my comment and we talked there for a long while, about nothing and everything.

She is a nurse and graduated college from NYU. She wants to be a doctor, but had to get some credit and learning skills first before she can be one. She is 22 and has a boyfriend named Kyle, who she is very in love with.

"What about you, anyone special in your life?" She wiggled her eye brows, and gave me a suggestive smirk. I playfully shoved her and gave an overdramatic sigh before I answered, "Well, it's kind of complicated."

"I've got all day honey." She was very curious and I could tell she wasn't going to drop it until I answered. "Well I think I am dating my three year boyfriend, Jace, but he got mad because I didn't tell him that I was…sick and lied about some other stuff. He stormed out after I told him and he has been ignoring me this entire week at school. We might be broken up, but he didn't tell me anything specific."

Her eyes bore into mine and were coated with sympathy. "Come here, sweetie."

She pulled me into a heartwarming hug and whispered into my ear, "He will realize he made a mistake." She pulled away from me and continued to stare into my eyes, "You said you guys were together for three years right? Well he must be some hell of a guy, if he has been dating you for that long. He will come back, I promise." I simply nodded and stared into the distance. She seemed to take my hint, and sauntered to the door. With one last glance back, she closed the door and walked down the long corridor.

I relaxed into my hospital bed, worn out from the day and took a restful nap.

A knock at the door sounded waking me up from my slumber, "Come, in!"

Dr. Lightwood came strolling in with his clipboard, looking all high and mighty. I rolled my eyes, figures.

He ignored it and told me what he came in here for, "Clary, I know the pains were bad, so we want to keep you here for another day or two just to make sure you are alright."

I nodded my head, even if I wasn't happy about it I'm guessing I wouldn't win a fight with a doctor who is trying to save my life, but that's just me. He started towards the door, but an idea popped into my head, "Wait!"

He slowly turned around and looked at me. It wasn't a rude glance, just questionable and irritated. He raised one eyebrow, waiting for my question. "Will you make sure I'm okay with a visitor before you let them in?"

He nodded, unsurely, but nodded nonetheless. "I'll let the receptionist know." And with that he left, leaving me alone, with only my thoughts to keep my company, not that I minded though and probably for the third time that day I fell asleep, but only got about 10 minutes because another knock came from the door. "What?" I barked; getting agitated that I couldn't sleep. A nurse poked her head out from behind the door, "Sorry to wake you Ms. Fray, but you have a visitor."

"Who is it?"

"It's a boy and he said he was from your grade and that you guys are really close," Simon. I immediately perked up and told her to bring him in.

But instead of chocolate hair and eyes I was met with golden ones. He didn't look angry anymore and instead it was replaced with regret. This only angered me, damn right he should regret it, he broke my heart!

"What do you want, Jace?" I hissed.